June 2016 Kindle book releases

While I don’t generally pre-order Kindle store books myself, I know many of you do.

I understand the fun of just having the book show up, but I figure I’ll order when I want it…since I could have it within a minute, usually.…

However, it’s worth noting that pre-ordering at a low price will tend to preserve that price. Back when the Agency Model was solidly in place, Amazon couldn’t guarantee that books sold by the publishers using that structure wouldn’t go up in price after you pre-ordered them. It wasn’t likely, it was just that Amazon couldn’t control it. We have largely returned to the Agency Model, but Amazon is allowed to discount in some circumstances.

These aren’t necessarily the most popular of the pre-orders…I’m just going to list ones that catch my eye. Since we might not agree on that, here’s a link to the 6,326 (at time of writing…a significant 733 fewer than last month):

Amazon no longer does the “New and Popular” search as a default, but does “Featured”. Presumably, a human being picks those titles in some way…and the list is clearly not the same. This month, again, Kindle First titles dominate.

The other thing is that some of those Kindle Unlimited titles are way up on the list. I’m concerned (and I’ve alerted Amazon about it) that people are confused: they think they are pre-ordering a KU borrow, when they are actually pre-ordering a purchase. In other words, they may be thinking they’ll get the book at no additional cost, and actually be charged for it. Amazon has confirmed for me: you can not pre-order a borrow from KU.

June is a big release month for books (not unlike movies)…summer vacation is here, and books for “grads and Dads” are also big.

Okay, books!

End of Watch: A Novel (The Bill Hodges Trilogy Book 3) by Stephen King

Tom Clancy Duty and Honor (A Jack Ryan Jr. Novel) by Grant Blackwood

The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future by Kevin Kelly

The Pursuit: A Fox and O’Hare Novel by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg

The Cavendon Luck: A Novel (Cavendon Hall) by Barbara Taylor Bradford

Murder on the Quai (An Aimée Leduc Investigation Book 16) by Cara Black

Barkskins by Annie Proulx

New England Bound: Slavery and Colonization in Early America by Wendy Warren

The Strange Career of William Ellis: The Texas Slave Who Became a Mexican Millionaire by Karl Jacoby

Code Warriors: NSA’s Codebreakers and the Secret Intelligence War Against the Soviet Union by Stephen Budiansky

Never a Dull Moment: 1971–The Year That Rock Exploded by David Hepworth

The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: The First 25 Years: 1 by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman

White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg

Being a Beast: Adventures Across the Species Divide by Charles Foster (this one is literally on my wish list…I read a piece with the author…fascinating stuff as a human being tries to live as animals live, to understand them and the world)

The Intelligent Conversationalist: 31 Cheat Sheets That Will Show You How to Talk to Anyone About Anything, Anytime by Imogen Lloyd Webber

Otto Binder: The Life and Work of a Comic Book and Science Fiction Visionary by Bill Schelly and Richard A. Lupoff

Death’s Bright Day by David Drake

Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet: by H.P. Wood

Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War by Mary Roach

The Memory Illusion: Remembering, Forgetting, and the Science of False Memory by Julia Shaw

Hmm…there are some really fascinating books for me here, but I won’t buy any of them. I’ll put some on my wish list, and family members might buy them for me, but I pretty much just read books in Kindle Unlimited (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*), or that I already own (often gotten as a gift). If these are too expensive for your tastes, consider listing them for free at eReaderIQ.com : they’ll send you an e-mail when a book drops an amount you specify). Feel free to suggest other books being released in June in the USA Kindle store. If you are the author, or are otherwise connected with the production or publishing of the book, I’d appreciate you saying so. That won’t stop me from publishing the comment, but it should be in your own words and not an ad.

* I am linking to the same thing at the regular Amazon site, and at AmazonSmile. When you shop at AmazonSmile, half a percent of your purchase price on eligible items goes to a non-profit you choose. It will feel just like shopping at Amazon: you’ll be using your same account. The one thing for you that is different is that you pick a non-profit the first time you go (which you can change whenever you want)…and the good feeling you’ll get. Shop ’til you help!

** A Kindle/Fire with text-to-speech can read any text downloaded to it…unless that access is blocked by the publisher inserting code into the file to prevent it. That’s why you can have the device read personal documents to you (I’ve done that). I believe that this sort of access blocking disproportionately disadvantages the disabled, although I also believe it is legal (provided that there is at least one accessible version of each e-book available, however, that one can require a certification of disability). For that reason, I don’t deliberately link to books which block TTS access here (although it may happen accidentally, particularly if the access is blocked after I’ve linked it). I do believe this is a personal decision, and there are legitimate arguments for purchasing those books.

This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog. To support this or other blogs/organizations, buy Amazon Gift Cards from a link on the site, then use those to buy your items. There will be no cost to you, and a benefit to them.